Silence
by pheonixfeather05
Summary: When Hermione is captured, Lucius puts a spell on her that causes her to go deaf. After she is rescued, she and Draco get caught up in an exploding potion and have to deal with the concequences while simultaneously dealing with Hermione's disability.HG/D Currently on HIATUS!
1. Prologue

Prologue—

They were running as fast as their bodies would allow them to. The woods were speeding by at a surprisingly fast rate. But it was not fast enough. She was the slowest runner, and was therefore the last one to reach the plateau where the port-key lay. The old boot sat there waiting for the moment it would be ripped through space to the Order headquarters. The two boys in front of her spun around to see her running as fast as she could, she was not going to make it in time. With a quick twist, she pulled a small, beaded handbag out of her sock where she had hidden it.

"Here!" she yelled, throwing the handbag as close as she could to them. The raven-haired boy caught it easily; "Go!" she yelled again. At that moment, the boot began to glow with an eerie blue light. Noticing it, the two boys grabbed a hold of the heel, and were spun into space, their last word echoing across the plateau, "Hermione!"

Hermione collapsed from exhaustion, falling onto the leaf-strewn forest floor below. The dark-cloaked men the three had been running from soon caught up to her.

"Damn it! They escaped! We only got the Mudblood!" roared one of them, kicking at the motionless body by his feet.

"We should be lucky we got this one; without her Potter and the Blood-traitor will be helpless. We will have them soon, and the Dark Lord will rule." The cold voice echoed through the trees, "Until then, I have the perfect place for her."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione woke up to find herself in a dark cell, obviously underground in an old castle, or manor. She shuddered, noticing how cold it was in the corner. She shifted slightly catching the attention of the man standing outside her cell.

"Good, you're awake. The Dark Lord has been waiting; he does not like to be kept waiting." The voice was cold and harsh; reminding her of the night Dumbledore had been killed. A single tear slid down her face at the memory of the smiling old man. The man outside her cell noticed and sneered, then pulled her roughly from the ground to her feet, pulling her out of the small cell. She noticed her wand was not with her. The thought of these men rummaging through her clothes to find her wand repulsed her, and she tried hard to think of something else.

"Don't even try to run, you won't get far anyway." The man stated, realizing that she was looking around for a way to escape. He strode quickly with her in front of him, his wand digging into her back. She tried to remember her path through the manor, but the twists and turns quickly confused themselves in her normally clear mind. Finally, they came to their destination.

The dining room was cold and occupied only with a long table. An elaborate throne stood at one end, and she glared at it with disgust. The rest of the chairs were filled with black-robed men and women, although men mostly dominated the table. Finally, the man, if he could be called such, who had captured her there, appeared with a swish of black robes he sat down on the throne, his snake sliding onto his shoulders. 'One of the two horocruxes left' she thought.

The man absent-mindedly stroked the top of his snakes' head, staring at her intensely. She could feel the tendrils of his mind reaching for hers. She quickly threw up defenses around the perimeter of her mind, hoping they would be strong enough to evade him. Her effort was rewarded when his countenance turned into one of surprise, then anger. The tendrils redoubled their effort, throwing themselves against Hermione's mind.

The men and women sitting at the table watched their Lord with anticipation, normally it did not take this long before he had information to give them from the prisoners mind. This was not normal. Finally, the tendrils stopped their attack, but Hermione continued to hold her defensive walls up.

Then he started laughing. It was a cold hard laugh that echoed a cold, hard heart, but a laugh none-the-less. "Never before, Miss Granger, have I found someone that could withstand my attack like that. Quite impressive." Hermione glared at him, fire burning behind her eyes. He met her glare with an equally harsh one of his own, causing Hermione to look away. "Yes, I believe you will need more work to uncover your secrets. Bellatrix."

"Yes my Lord?"

"She is all yours. Do what you will, but do not kill her. We may need her to lure Potter."

"Of course my Lord, I will uncover her secrets yet!"

"My Lord," Voldermort turned to look at Lucius Malfoy with an amused expression.

"Yes Lucius?"

"I was wondering if after Bellatrix is done with her. What punishment would be more humiliating to a head-strong girl like her than to be a slave worse than a house-elf for a Pureblood family?"

"You are asking for her _after_ her punishment?"

"Yes my Lord."

"Very well, if she is still sane you may have her; although she must not be killed. Potter will definitely come for his Mudblood now." He laughed once again and strode out through the double doors. The rest of the Death-Eaters followed soon after.

"Come pet, we have much to do, and so little time to do it." Bellatrix purred as she painfully grabbed Hermione's arm; digging her fingernails into the skin and dragging her further into the house.

Minutes later Hermione's tortured screams filled the house.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione was soon found in the Malfoy household, serving, as Lucius promised, the Malfoys' as worse than a house-elf. She absent-mindedly rubbed her left arm where the word MUDBLOOD was scrawled across it, her only lasting physical scar from her torture with Bellatrix.

Suddenly the back of her neck began to burn, a sign that her masters needed her. The day after she arrived, she had been branded on the back of the neck with the Malfoy family crest. It would begin to burn whenever the Malfoys needed her.

Rising from the floor of the kitchen closet, where she slept when she could, she began to walk out into the large house. After a few weeks, she had memorized the layout of the house, and probably knew it better than its owners.

She was not the same Hermione she had been before; she had changed mentally. Her almost daily punishments handed out by Lucius had changed her. She had learned quickly to not speak out of turn, and now she spoke only when it was necessary. The abuse had taken its toll on her mind as well, she was extremely fearful of everyone, especially men. Overall, Hermione Granger was broken.

She followed the memorized path up to Mrs. Malfoy's room on the fifth floor. Halfway there, at the mouth of a passageway that went from the third floor to the fifth, she heard the voices of Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Parkinson, whose voice reminded her of Pansy, but in a more masculine way.

"Have the spies found out any new information John?" Mr. Malfoy spoke in a whisper, and Hermione had to strain to hear; where were some extendable ears when you needed them?

"Not yet, but we seem close. Shouldn't we be having this conversation somewhere else Lucius? Somewhere more private? I heard you had the Mudblood of the Golden Trio here. Wouldn't she try to tell any information we have to the Potter boy?" Hermione could just picture Mr. Parkinson's eyes darting around, looking into the shadows for her form.

Lucius laughed, a cold harsh sound, "No, I have asked Narcissa to have the Mudblood draw her up a bath. That should take care of her, and none of the house elves are stupid enough to try and repeat information to anyone."

Mr. Parkinson seemed to have nodded his head as the conversation continued.

"Have you heard? The Dark Lord has gotten the Elder Wand. He was telling Dolholv only yesterday—"

Hermione did not need to hear anymore. She ran through secret corridor after corridor, her bare feet making almost no noise on the heavy carpet. Eventually she reached the door to the back gardens. Hesitating, she examined the route to the owlery; it was completely open, with almost nothing to use for hiding spots.

Realizing that the longer she waited, the more of a chance someone would see her; she darted as fast as she could to the large brown building by the edge of the property. Finally, she reached it, pulling out a small piece of paper and inkbottle, as well as part of a broken quill; she hurriedly scribbled a note to Harry, recalling all that she had overheard.

She was just about to tie it onto the leg of the nearest bird when a pale hand shot out and grasped her forearm. She whirled around, fear etched onto her face; it was Lucius.

"You know, I always hate it when someone is right and I am not, even more so when it happens to be a guest. John Parkinson always seemed to be excessively paranoid, but this time, it might have saved us quite a bit of trouble." His eyes gleamed with hatred; this would not be good, Hermione could already see it coming.

Lucius pushed Hermione backwards, causing her to stumble and fall onto the floor. Pulling his wand out of his pocket he aimed it at Hermione who cringed into the wall, expecting what was coming.

"Crucio!"

Hermione cried out as pain went searing down her body. Finally, the pain stopped, and she looked up to find Mr. Malfoy glaring at her.

"We must make sure that this won't happen again won't we Mudblood." Hermione glared at him, anger and fear showing in her eyes, "Aures Silentium!"(A/N: Ears be silenced)

Hermione cried out as she recognized the spell, but it was too late; there was nothing she could do. All she could do was listen as her world was plunged into silence.


	2. Chapter 1

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, it was a great boost of self-confidence to continue to post. Quite a few of you had a few questions here are some answers:

**sh0rt3zMalfoy: **I was thinking about Hermione and loosing herself so soon, in my opinion, I actually agree with you, but to make the story work she has to be like this.

**RainbowRepublic:** Pretty much the same answer as sh0rt3Malfoy, but it took longer than a few days, it was more like six to seven months, which explains a bit more. And in no way was any buzz killed.

**kitkat914:** Draco has been at school the whole time reasons are explained in the next chapter, aka, the one below.

Thanks again for all who reviewed: sh0rt3zMalfoy, RainbowRepublic, samanthachambersxoxo, kitkat914, and Misses Prongs.

Just for clarification, I have placed any sign language/notes between characters in **BOLD. **Oh, and another thing, for those who were saying Hermione wasn't in character, this chapter is really off, but it had to be to work with the story line. After this though, she becomes more like the old Hermione we all know and love. Any-who, on with the show!

Chapter 1—

When Harry and Ron had left Hermione, they threw themselves completely into defeating Voldermort, knowing that it was the only way they may ever see her again. After the final battle at Hogwarts, they began to search each Death-Eaters house for her, hoping that she would still be alive. Malfoy Manor was the seventh manor they were searching. They stood outside at the gate, hoping, praying, that they would find her here.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione had spent seven or eight months with the Malfoy's, two of which were spent while deaf, when Harry defeated Voldermort during the final battle. During her time deaf, she had learnt to deal with it in the best way she could. She had become extremely good at reading both Lucius' and Narcissa's lips, and learned to feel for the vibrations the floor or walls made when a person entered or exited a room.

It was by such vibrations that she knew that someone was coming into the house. Thinking it was only Lucius and some other Death-Eaters, she ignored it and went back to sleep, knowing he would call for her when he wanted to.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Harry and Ron had not come alone; they had brought several Aurors with them, including Kingsley, Tonks, and Arthur, Bill, and Charlie Weasley. With a quick glance at each other, they split into groups, some of the Aurors separating entirely.

It was a single Auror who found Hermione curled up on the floor of the kitchen. She had woken up when he had walked into the large kitchen, and was preparing herself for the punishment she thought surely should come from Lucius. Instead, she turned over to find a strange man standing over her.

Yelping, she swiftly stood and darted into the hidden passage behind a tapestry in the kitchen. Hoping he would not follow her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Auror did not follow her through the passage, instead, he yelled for Harry and Ron, and ran back up into the entrance hall where they were searching.

Panting he burst out, "She's in the kitchen!"

Harry and Ron looked at him incredulously, and then started to run towards the kitchen only to be stopped by the same Auror who had brought the news.

"Wait! Please listen to me! Something is wrong with her. I was standing there looking at her when she woke up. When I actually saw her face, it almost scared me how hollow it was. She's not right; I don't know how she'll react to you two." He said swiftly pleading with them to listen to him.

Ron angry at being kept from his friend burst, "I know exactly how she'll react! She will see us and yell 'Harry! Ron!' and run at us. How could she not remember us?"

"I don't know, but when she first saw me her eyes went wide with fear, it was almost unnatural."

"Wait, she was scared of you?" Harry said looking at the man.

"Yes, she yelped and then ran into one of the tapestries."

Harry and Ron shared glances then Harry said to the group, Hermione was never scared of anything. "Does anyone have a map to this place?" Arthur Weasley dug around in his bag a minute and then gave an old tattered map to Harry. "Good. Now we'll have to split up to look for her." He pointed to obvious places on the map, and assigned a pair of Aurors to each. "Someone she knows will have to go with someone she doesn't. Hopefully we find her soon."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The particular tapestry Hermione had hidden in led to the library. She had used it during evenings when both Lucius and Narcissa had been asleep to look up the spell that had been cast on her. When she had not recognized the man, standing above her, her first instinct had been to run, so she did. By the time she arrived at the library, her logical mind had sorted out the pros and cons for each choice she had.

Choice A: she could run out of the house and try to find her way on her own. She knew that she was helpless without a wand, even more now that she was deaf. This idea would most-likely end in failure because of that.

Choice B: she could go back to the kitchen and wait for Lucius like she was supposed to. Maybe the strange man was just another Death-Eater. Lucius would be extremely angry that she had not been waiting for him when he arrived, if he arrived.

Choice C: she could sit and look up more on the spell that Lucius had cast on her and wait for someone to find her.

Her bookworm side taking over, Hermione decided to go with choice C. Pulling a large volume down from one of the shelves, she began searching for the spell.

Silencing spells…

Os Conticescent…mouth be silenced

Oculos Claudant…eyes be shut

Verba Conticescent…words be silenced

Silentium… silence

Caecus… blind

Surdus… deaf

Hermione slammed the book angrily. The spell had escaped her again! She stood up to place the book back on its shelf when she felt someone else coming up the hallway. She quickly backed away from the shelf that separated them, not knowing whom it was. Not watching where she was going, she accidentally backed up into a desk, knocking the small lamp that was situated upon it over with a large crash. She promptly fell over the broken lamp, causing another large crash.

She struggled to get up before the person reached her, but was too slow, and he rounded the corner to see her lying there. Hermione immediately lowered her eyes as a sign of respect, not knowing who it was. With her eyes looking down, she noticed that the person was bent over, offering her a hand up.

Daring to glance up, she noticed a shock of raven-black hair, and emerald green eyes surrounded by large rimmed glasses. 'Harry!' she thought. Grabbing Harry's hand, she allowed him to pull her up, and immediately threw herself on him, sobbing into his shoulder.

Harry stood there letting Hermione sob onto his shoulder. When she was done crying, he started to say something but she stopped him with a shake of her head. Realizing she did not want to talk, Harry took wrapped his arms around her waist and led her out of the library back to the entrance hall. Telling her to stay where she was, Harry pulled out his wand, not noticing Hermione wince away from it, and waved it, causing the rest of the search group to know he had found her, and where he was. Within minutes, everyone was gathered at the entrance. Hermione glancing warily at the members she did not know or recognize.

"Hermione!" Tonks yelled walking quickly towards her to pull her into a hug. Hermione stood there, letting the tears slowly leak from her eyes.

The present members of the Weasley family all came and hugged her as well, Ron being the last.

"Hermione, what did they do to you?" He asked, looking questioningly at her. Hermione saw his look and tried to understand what he was asking, but was unable to do more than look at him, her eyes pleading with him to understand.

Ron did not notice her look, but was angered by her not answering him. He went to ask another question, but was stopped with a look by Harry.

"I think we should get home before anything else happens." Arthur Weasley suggested, motioning to Harry to disapparate with Hermione.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

When Harry and Hermione finally arrived at Grimmuald Place, the house was silent. Seconds later, the place exploded into a roar of sounds, and to Hermione, vibrations. To her it was overwhelming, the floor seemed to be shaking underneath her feet, and when the mass of bodies appeared in the narrow hallway, it seemed as if she was being smothered.

Harry noticing her sudden flinches and feeling her shaking underneath his arm; stopped the mob of family and close friends. Looking questioningly at Hermione, he led her slowly to the sitting room, off the main hallway; motioning for Ron to follow him.

"Are you okay? I've never seen you like this Hermione." Harry asked, once all three of them were seated. Both he and Ron looked at Hermione, both expecting a snappy comeback. Hermione on the other hand studied their faces, looking for the answer to the question they had asked her. After about three minutes of this exchange, Harry and Ron exchanged a glance. Harry then stood up, said something that to Hermione looked like, "I…go…Lupin…stay here."

After getting an approval nod from Ron, Harry exited the room, leaving a worried Ron, and a scared Hermione behind. Hermione ducked her head from Ron's searching gaze, and only raised it when she felt more vibrations on the floor, notifying her that Harry had returned with Lupin. Looking up at the two, she winced into the back cushions of the couch as Lupin made to crouch down in front of her.

"Hermione, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, reaching out a hand. All Hermione caught was, "Hermione…hurt you." Gasping, she closed her eyes; waiting for the blow, she expected to come from Lupins reaching hand. Pulling back his hand, Lupin stood back up and turned to talk to Harry and Ron. As his back was to Hermione, she could not catch what was being said.

"I'm almost positive that she was abused. Did you see the way she flinched when I raised my hand to comfort her?" Lupin asked Harry and Ron.

"Yes, it seems she is only comfortable with me and Ron." Harry said

"She doesn't seem to want to speak. I'm at a loss of what to do right now." Lupin said, glancing back at Hermione who was looking down at her hands, wringing her skirt.

Harry sighed and looked back at Hermione, who still was not looking at them. "Ron, why don't you go and get Ginny and get Hermione in some new clothes?"

"Good idea Harry, I'll go get her. She and Hermione are about the same size anyway." He said, and the two of them strode out of the room, Harry set on telling the rest of the occupants of the house to leave Hermione alone. This left Lupin alone with Hermione. Feeling them walk out, Hermione looked up to see Lupin staring at her. Scared she had done something wrong; she leaned back into the couch and continued to twist her skirt into knots. Looking up when she felt vibrations on the floor, her eyes lit up when she saw Ginny in the doorway. With a squeal, Ginny ran over to Hermione, pulling her into a large hug, which Hermione returned. Grabbing Hermione's hand, Ginny pulled her out of the room and up the stairs into her room.

Once they arrived at Ginny's room on the third floor, Hermione was spun onto the bed, gravity making her sit down. Ginny sat down next to her, chattering away too fast for Hermione to make out anything. Standing up, Hermione walked around the room, looking for a piece of parchment and a quill. Once finding the writing utensil and paper, she went back to Ginny and wrote in her small curly script: "**Ginny, I am deaf**."

Holding the parchment in front of Ginny's face, Hermione watched as Ginny realized what was written on the paper and her eyes start to tear up. Taking the parchment and quill from Hermione, Ginny wrote back: "**Hermione, I'm so sorry. How did this happen?**"

Hermione grabbed the quill and wrote a reply. "**Lucius Malfoy cursed me. I was their servant and he got angry with me. I have been trying to find a counter-curse**."

Ginny gasped and looked to Hermione with pure pity. "**I will try to help you in every way I can. Should we tell Harry and Ron?**"

Hermione thought about this for a minute, and then nodded her head. "**Okay, but no-one else, I don't want people to treat me any different**."

"**How will you communicate with everyone though?**"

"**How would you like to learn Sign Language Ginny?**"

Ginny looked up with a large smile and leaned over to hug Hermione. Her body language saying her answer, "I'd love to."

0o0o0o0o0o0o

After agreeing on when they should start to learn sign language, the girls went to Ginny's closet. Turning on her fashionista side, Ginny started to throw clothes at Hermione, who after the first few shirts and pants flew her way; stopped flinching. Holding up an outfit for Hermione to look at Ginny watched her expression; laughing at the horrified face, she wore. After a few more failed outfits, the two girls agreed on an outfit. Once Hermione had taken a shower and changed, the two went downstairs again, Hermione once again becoming shy and flighty.

Seeing the change in her friend, Ginny grabbed her hand, giving her a small smile. She swore to herself that she would fix it somehow. Somehow, someway, she would make Hermione happy again.


	3. Chapter 2

Thanks to all who reviewed, I have been writing more, and was going to post this this Saturday, but I decided, with American Spirit, that I would give all of you a present for 4th-a-July. Have fun reading!

A/N: Really odd fact about me, it seems I write a big long chapter, and then a short one, and then another long one. Unluckily, this is one of those short but important ones.

Thanks to all my reviewers:

sh0rt3zMalfoy, MissRachel14, Misses Prongs, and RainbowRepublic!

Chapter 2—

When the two girls appeared downstairs, Hermione was almost hiding herself behind Ginny. Grabbing her friends' arm, Ginny gently guided her over to where Harry and Ron were talking with Lupin, and Arthur and Molly Weasley. Whispering in Harry's ear, Ginny then led Hermione over to the sitting room she had been in previously. Closing the door, Ginny then set out looking for a pad of parchment and a few quills. Finding them, the two sat down facing the door waiting for their friends to appear.

A few minutes later, the door opened to reveal Harry and Ron. Closing the door softly behind them and locking it, they began to speak to Ginny.

"What did you want to speak to us about Ginny?" Harry asked, sitting down across from them in one of the large armchairs.

"It's about Hermione." Both boys looked up at her, and then glanced at their friend, who was looking much better having changed out of the dirty clothes she had been wearing and taken a shower.

"What about her? Did she tell you anything about what happened to her?" Their faces were hopeful, but also clouded with dark shadows at the thought of Hermione's imprisonment.

"It would be better if she told you." Ginny turned and gave the pad of parchment, quill, and ink to Hermione after writing a quick message: "**Tell them what happened to you.**"

Hermione nodded and grabbed the quill, writing quickly and holding it up for the two boys to read. Their reactions were similar to Ginny's but accompanied with death threats pointed at the Malfoy's and Death Eaters in general. Hermione jumped at their violent and unexpected reactions, hiding her face behind her hair, and shrinking into the couch cushions.

Noticing Hermione's reaction, Ginny stood up quickly and hit the boys across the back of their heads; shooting piercing glares at them; then motioning toward where Hermione sat on the couch, looking up at them through the curtain of her wavy hair.

Realizing what their reactions had caused, they calmed, Ron still fuming silently. Sitting back down, Harry gently took Hermione's hand and squeezed it lightly, telling her he had not meant to scare her through the contact.

Getting the message, Hermione looked up at them and gave a half-smile, one that did not catch her eyes.

Slowly over the next few hours, with breaks for meals, the four spoke and wrote out their plans. Ginny told the two boys of the conversation she had had with Hermione in her bedroom. After a bit of brief arguing, they all decided that they would learn sign language with Hermione, but would tell no one else, other than Dumbledore's portrait, which might be able to help them, of Hermione's condition.

By the time that this decision was reached, it was late at night, and Ginny could see how tired Hermione was becoming, from both the excitement of today, and the sleepless nights she had obviously been previously receiving.

Explaining quickly to the boys, that Hermione was to sleep in her room with her, and was not to be disturbed for anything; Ginny led Hermione upstairs. Hermione, more than grateful to Ginny, fell asleep almost immediately when she lay down. It had been a tiring few months for her.

Meanwhile, Ginny snuck out her door, and headed off to the library. Arriving a few minutes later back at the door, she stepped inside, shutting and locking it as quietly as she could. She then stepped over to the chair by the fireplace, and settled in for a night of learning sign language and watching her best friend.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3—

A few weeks after Hermione had been rescued; she was sitting in the kitchen of 12 Grimmuald Place when a large barn owl swooped in through the open window. Glancing up at the feel of the wind coming off the creatures' wings, she noticed it looked like one of the Hogwarts school owls.

Grabbing the ring on her index finger, she twisted it once to the left, then once to the right. Just seconds after, she felt the pounding on the fifth floor stairs that meant someone was coming down in a hurry. Soon, Harry and Ginny appeared in the kitchen, and Hermione handed the letters she had taken from the owl to them. Watching them read the letters; she took the time to think over her life so far (she had read the letter while she waited for them to come down.)

Once all of the commotion about her recovery and the war ending was over, Harry had invited her to stay with him and Ginny; they were now engaged, at Grimmuald Place. The four, including Ron, had learnt sign language quickly, and Hermione was glad that she could still communicate with someone. Ron had later moved back to the Burrow, to be near his family.

Soon after Ron's departure, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny fell upon another problem. When Hermione was needed, or she needed someone, she could not hear someone calling her name, and she had not spoken since her rescue. Ron had previously taken care of this problem by keeping tabs on Hermione, and checking on her every few minutes or so. While this was annoying, it had taken care of the problem. Looking into some more books, Hermione eventually came upon the answer, the rings.

Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Harry wore the rings, and they connected them all to each other. (Because Ron was not normally around the house though, he kept his in his pocket, instead of on his finger.) The rings would tingle when one of the bearers turned it right, left, or completely around. Each turn of the ring was designated to a certain person. When Hermione would turn hers to the left, she would call Harry, and when it was turned to the right, it would call Ginny. Ron was 'summoned' when she turned it completely around.

Hermione was jerked out of her reverie by her ring tingling. She looked up to see Ginny smirking at her. Hermione blushed and looked down. Harry soon started the conversation:

"**Have you read the letter yet"** He signed to her.

"**Yes! Is it not wonderful? We have been accepted at Hogwarts for our seventh year again!"**

Harry smiled at her obvious joy. Then his smile slid as he signed: "**How are you going to do your classes though? You will not be able to hear the teachers speak**."

Hermione turned thoughtful, and then smiled again. "**Well, I will just have to work extra hard then, won't I."**

Harry laughed at her answer. It was just so…Hermione.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

True to her word, Hermione decided to go back to school. Of course, no one would have expected any different from her, but still, it seemed like a rash decision because of all of the people she would have to face, so soon into her recovery.

A few days before they Golden Quartet, Ginny was in it now, had to leave, Ginny, Harry, and Ron met while Hermione was in the library looking up the spell that had caused her to lose her hearing. Harry spoke first:

"We should at least tell the teachers about Hermione. Otherwise how will she be able to listen in on lessons?"

"I don't know Harry, she told us not to tell anyone else. She doesn't want to be thought of as weak or be treated different because of her disability." Ginny brought up, starting the usual argument over again.

Ron had sat silent through the whole argument, it had continued between Harry and Ginny, and had been thinking about a solution.

"What if we tell Dumbledore's portrait? He could then tell the other portraits, and then they could help Hermione, if she was lost, or someone was calling her name or something, they could alert her. They are all over the school too. Then we could know where she was if we asked, and someone would be watching her at all times."

Ginny and Harry had fallen silent when Ron started to talk, and were now staring at him unabashedly.

"What?"

Ginny and Harry shared a disbelieving glance, Ron had just come up with a solution to a problem that might actually work. Finally, Harry got over his shock.

"That's a great idea Ron! But what if one of the portraits tells a student or teacher?"

Ginny knit her eyebrows together in deep thought. "Isn't there a spell you can use that makes people and portraits not able to write or say certain things unless the spell caster says they can?"

"Yeah! That'd be perfect!" Ron exclaimed, "Let's go tell Hermione, she probably knows it."

The three almost sprinted up the four sets of stairs to the library, and by the time they arrived, all three were out of breath. Spinning their rings around, they watched as Hermione jumped from the combined shock. Turning around she glared at them. Noticing their unusually happy faces, she put her book down and signed her curiosity.

Ginny quickly filled her in on their conversation, and laughed at the flabbergasted expression Hermione had when Ginny told her Ron's suggestion. This also prompted a: **'I'm not that stupid! Am I?**' from Ron. The three, not Hermione who only smiled, shared a laugh at Ron's expense. After they all stopped laughing, Hermione readily agreed to the idea, and pulled Ginny aside to help her pack her bags.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Finally, September 1st came around. The Golden Quartet had just arrived at the station when they were swarmed with reporters trying to get pictures, quotes, and stories from the war heroes. Immediately, Hermione felt overwhelmed. Seeing this, Harry and Ron took protective stances in front of her, almost like bodyguards, and shoved people politely out of the way while Ginny guided Hermione through the crowd.

Once they were clear of the large crowds, Hermione turned and embraced them, signing her thanks, which they all shrugged off. They quickly found an empty compartment, and were soon joined by Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Hermione sat next to Ginny, who was silently giving her signs to alert Hermione what was going on throughout the conversation, as Ginny talked to Neville.

Luna had fallen silent after exchanging greetings with them all; and was now watching Hermione closely, to the point where Hermione felt like she was under observation through a microscope. Eventually, the heads and prefects were called to the front of the train.

Hermione had received her head badge a week to the day before they were supposed to leave for Hogwarts. The Head Boy was still undetermined, and Hermione hoped that it was not young Mr. Malfoy (she still thought of them as such). After Ginny had signed to her that it was time for her to go to the Head Lounge, she stood up, motioning for Ginny to come with her. Stepping out of the carriage, Luna stood up and slipped out of the door as well.

Grabbing Hermione's arm, Luna gently spun her around to face her. Pulling her arm down, she signed **Hello Hermione.**

Hermione could have started sobbing. Instead, she settled for throwing herself at Luna, engulfing the younger girl in a large hug. After signing to Ginny for a few minutes, Hermione turned to Luna and motioned for her to follow her to the Head Lounge. Ginny stood there watching them go, and then entered the compartment again to talk to her friends.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Draco Malfoy had been at school the whole time Hermione had been part of the Malfoy household, and, coincidentally, had no idea that Hermione was the servant his father had boasted about to him through his letters. He thought back to that first letter about, he expected the servant was female, her.

_Draco, _

_It is to my greatest joy that I am able to write this. The Dark Lord has awarded us a spoil of war. She is now working as a servant, even lower than the house elves. I am unable to reveal her name because of war precautions, but I expect that you will be overjoyed when you arrive home for Christmas break._

_Your Father, _

_Lucius_

The letter was cold and detached, just like his father in person. Draco had not gone home for Christmas that year, one of the only times he did not during his stay at Hogwarts. When his mother owled him later and asked why he did not he made up some reason; but he really just did not want to know what poor girl was suffering at his father's hand now. He had felt its strength and brutality many times before. In fact, now that his father was in Azkaban, and was sentenced for life, his life had improved.

He was no longer hounded to be a Death Eater; he had never taken the mark in the first place as it seemed wrong. To attack mudbloods and half bloods alike, even though their leader was a half-blood and his mother was a squib. Most of his hatred for mudbloods was forced and false, he had always been a good actor.

He expected he would just find out later. For now, he would take one obstacle at a time; and the first one was getting back to Hogwarts.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

On September 1st, Draco could be seen sitting in the Head Lounge with his best friend, Blaise Zambini. They sat in silence, hiding from the rest of the student body who would hate Draco on sight, and ignore Blaise. (Blaise and his family had hid out in Italy until the war was over.)

The other students filed in too soon for Draco, who had been content to stay in solitude. Most of the other students gave him harsh looks filled with loathing. He sent them right back. Finally, the Head Girl came in; flanked by Luna Lovegood.

Draco internally groaned; it was going to be a long year.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: I was reading a different story a while ago, I don't remember who was writing it, but they said they would post a new chapter if they got 10 reviews on the latest one. I think I'm going to do the same thing…but for now I'll just post this one. Thanks to all of my reviewers:

RainbowRepublic….thanks for the compliment, it took me a while to come up with the rings, but I like how it turned out too.

Thanks to Misses Prongs & sh0rt3zMalfoy as well!

Chapter 4—

Hermione walked into the Head Lounge with a sense of dread. Upon seeing Mr. Malfoy (Draco) sitting lazily in one of the chairs, she immediately became fearful. This could not be good.

Luna, who had been watching her friend the whole time, noticed how Hermione flinched and a fearful look came into her eyes when she caught sight of Malfoy. Taking control of the situation, Luna grabbed Hermione's elbow in a gentle, but assertive hold; steering her toward one of the Ravenclaw Prefect chairs that sat on the opposite side of the room.

Talking quickly in hushed voices, Luna convinced the Prefect to give up his seat for Hermione, and take the one next to the Head Boy instead. Conjuring up a chair for herself, she sat down next to Hermione; watching her friend for any signs of panic or fear.

0o0o0o0o0o

Draco had watched Hermione enter the Head Lounge, and was genuinely surprised that Lovegood followed her in as well. If anyone, he would have expected it to be Potter, or Weasel, even the Weaselette; Lovegood had never seemed like a choice. When Hermione purposely chose the seat farthest away from him, he almost showed his surprise. (He had obviously been keeping the emotions bottled up, he is a Malfoy people.)

The whole compartment sat in silence for a few minutes, almost everyone looking at Hermione, including Draco. He sat there waiting for the know-it-all to start the speech she normally would have perfected months before. She did not move. Finally deciding to take matters into his own hands, he stood up and announced:

"Everyone listen up! Now as you already know, I am Head Boy, and Granger is Head Girl. Now, we (more like Granger, he added in his head) will be setting up the prefect round schedules later on, but I am sure they will be available by the end of the week. For now, we will take Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday. Hufflepuffs, you are Monday. Ravenclaws, you are Tuesday. Slytherins, you are Thursday, and Gryffindorks, you are Friday. Everyone understand? Good, now get!"

He dismissed them with a quick wave of his hand, and they all scattered except for Blaise, Lovegood and Granger. Not noticing that the two girls were still in the compartment, he fell backwards onto the seat and started rubbing his temples, his eyes closed tightly. _I am so glad that is over._

Glancing up to look at his friend, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Hermione and Luna were sitting on two of the seats by the window, opposite him and Blaise. Hermione was staring out the window intensely; obviously thinking hard. Luna was reading the Quibbler, the magazine she had pulled out of her school robes.

"I should have expected you to receive Head Girl, Granger." he placed a smirk on his lips, but it faded as Hermione ignored him and continued to stare at the blurred trees whipping by. He looked over at Blaise an unspoken question in his eyes. Once he had captured the Italians' attention, they shared a confused look at both the girls' behavior.

Realizing it was probably a hopeless cause to try to make sense of the two; all four fell into a comfortable silence and waited the train ride out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

When the train began to stop, Hermione looked up to see both of the Slytherin boys' eyes on her. Flinching involuntarily, she cast her eyes down and prodded Luna in the side, making her put her magazine away.

Blaise, being the polite person he was, began to question Luna on her reading. Saying, "he had always wondered about the rare creatures of the world." The two quickly fell into a discussion on the ever-shrinking habitat of the rare crumple-horned snorklack. Hermione watched the exchange with interest, noticing the way Blaise, while expressing his opinions on the matter, was also going along with her notions, adding on and inserting comments as necessary. _They would be a good couple, _she thought.

0o0o0o0o0o

While Hermione had been watching Blaise and Luna, Draco had been watching her. Something about her seemed different, like she had changed. He almost laughed at himself for making that observation. Of course, she had changed; most people had, a war had just ended after all. He continued watching her, noticing little things most people would miss. How her eyes darted around all the time. How she never let the back of her neck show when she was moving. Or how she did not seem to be interested in the conversation between Blaise and Luna. The Hermione he had known would have said her opinion on the topic almost as soon as it had been brought up. Something odd was going on with the Head Girl.

After about an hour of studying Hermione and listening to Blaise flirt shamelessly with Luna, Draco was on the edge of shoving the two of them out of the compartment. Unexpectedly, Hermione turned her head, she had returned to staring out the window, poked Luna in the arm, stood up, and started gathering her things. Luna started doing the same, realizing that Hermione had felt the brakes being pulled through the slight change in the trains' vibrations.

Draco shared a surprised look with Blaise, neither could figure out why they were starting to pack, the train had not stopped, or even started to yet. Blaise gave Draco a look that said _if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them_ and stood up to help Luna and Hermione. Draco decided not to move.

A few minutes later, the train stopped at the Hogsmeade station, and Draco had only just started gathering his things. The other three were packed and almost out of the compartment when Blaise turned around to help Draco, asking the girls to wait for them; conveniently insulting Draco while explaining the dilemma. Luna nodded, and grabbed Hermione's arm to keep her from walking on, as she had almost done_. _

_Again, with the odd behavior_, Draco thought_, from Luna it was expected, from Hermione it was just plain odd._

Hermione soon spotted her other friends, and making some odd motions to Luna, went off to join them. It seemed to Draco that he was doomed to listen to his best friend and his best friends' crush blabber the whole carriage ride up to the castle.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione felt bad for leaving Luna with Blaise and Malfoy, but the whole train ride she had felt Malfoy's eyes on her back, and it had started creeping her out early on. She had tried to deal with it for Luna's sake, but she decided that she could not take another carriage ride with his eyes on her.

Walking into the Great Hall, she immediately felt eyes on her. She should have expected it, with her being captured and then being found in Malfoy Manor, but even so, she still flinched and hurried to her seat with her eyes downcast. A few minutes after she sat down, Dumbledore's ghost started talking.

It had been a surprise to most of the members of the Order that he had come back; it was even more of a surprise that the school system had allowed him to continue being Headmaster. Hermione had an inkling that Harry had had something to do with it.

Catching Harry's attention, she asked **"May I be allowed to hear?"**

Harry smiled sheepishly and started miming to Hermione all that Dumbledore said.

"**Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts. Because of the fact that we are hosting students who missed their seventh year, due to the war, we will be having dual Head Students. All four of these students have full Head power, and are allowed to take and award House points, as well as give detention."**

Harry looked at Hermione with eyebrows raised in surprise, **"This is new."** He signed.

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes already accustomed to the news. **"Just continue with what he's saying."**

Harry nodded and started signing again. **"Please stand up when I call your name. This year's Head Girls are: Luna Lovegood,"** Hermione felt the vibration of many hands clapping from the Ravenclaw table as Luna stood up, **"and Hermione Granger."**

Harry had to nudge Hermione to get her to stand up, as she was shell-shocked at the announcement. Eventually she stood, to a round of applause from all of the tables; even some Slytherins were clapping for her. Hermione scanned through the few who were, and was surprised to see both Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zambini clapping.

From her position, she could not see Harry sign, so she just had to wait for the Head Boys stand up. She did a double take when first, Blaise Zambini stood up; and then another when Draco Malfoy stood as well, a smirk placed on his face.

After Dumbledore said a few more words, Harry pulled on her sleeve, notifying her to sit down again. Dumbledore said one more thing, but Harry was so caught up in the recently appeared feast to translate. Looking at Dumbledore, who was floating amongst the other teachers, she saw him sign one word:

"**Enjoy."**


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Hi everybody! I keep confusing the heck out of myself with all of the different chapter names. You know like chapter 3 really being chapter 2 and all that…anyway.

Huge thanks to Katie MacDonald, KaAaArL, verypen, Annabelle-Paisilee Nott, I bleed Ink, and smileyface745 for reviewing.

Mega-Ultra thanks to my continuous reviewers, Misses Prongs and sh0rt3zMalfoy!

Chapter 5—

After the feast, Dumbledore asked the Head Students to stay after to discuss about their new dorms and other specific Head Duties he had not said previously. Hermione was worried that she would not be able to understand what Dumbledore was saying but the worry proved insignificant as he began to sign his words as he said them.

"**The four of you will be sharing a common room, but each of the Heads will have their own room along with a special room for any hobbies or other things of consequence. These rooms were made previously to your arrival, and each door is labeled to minimize confusion. If you do not like the way your room is designed, you may change it as you wish. Follow me please, I will show you the location of your rooms."**

With this, he quickly drifted out of the Great Hall and started up the staircases. He eventually stopped outside a painting of a unicorn in a great wood on the sixth floor. Turning back to face the four students, he said.

"**This will be your common room. The unicorn's name is Audrey."**

At this, Audrey nickered, causing Dumbledore to turn to her and say something that Hermione could not make out. As he turned back around, he said,

"**The password is Unity. This will change every month, at the end of the month you must all agree on a password together. On this note, I shall leave you to explore your dorms. Miss Granger, please wait for a moment though, I need to go over some things with you."**

With this, he stepped aside, and the portrait opened. Luna, Draco, and Blaise all stepped in, and eagerly began exploring their common room. Hermione looked at Dumbledore expectantly, realizing that he must want to speak about her disability, and the solution Ron had come up with earlier.

"**Miss Granger, the paintings throughout the castle have been notified of your disability, and will help you if they can understand sign language. When I received your message, I went through the castle and figured out which paintings were able to speak/understand sign language. I have marked their frames with a small red dot that only you will be able to see. Do not hesitate to ask them for help with translations."**

"**Thank you, Professor. You do not know how much this means to me."**

"**You are welcome Miss Granger, now I would go search your common room, you may find a surprise waiting for you."**

With his blue eyes twinkling above his half-moon spectacles, he left Hermione to search her dorms.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Luna watched Hermione's face as she walked into the dorms. She was hiding a smile when a look of complete awe and amazement filled her countenance. Rushing over from where she was sitting on the arm of one of the two chairs and sofas that filled the area surrounding the large fireplace, she grabbed Hermione's arm and started to tow her up one of the two spiral staircases that led up to a single landing.

"**Come, you have to see your room!"**

Hermione smiled at her friends' antics and ran along behind Luna as she led her towards the door farthest to the right on the landing. Hermione stopped in the doorway looking at the curving gold letters that spelled in the middle of the door,

Hermione Granger

Senior Head Girl

Slowly opening the door, she gasped in surprise at the sight of her room. The far wall was covered in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, all stocked with some of her favorites, both muggle and wizarding series. Hermione briskly walked into the center of the room, facing the bookshelves, she almost forgot about looking at the rest of the room when a light breeze picked up her curls and started playing with them.

Turning to the right, she took in the light from the large French door that led out to a moderate size balcony complete with comfortable looking chairs and a coffee table all protected magically against the weather. To the right of these was a large four-poster with blue sheets, so light they were almost silver. A long wooden chest, for storage, lay at the foot of the bed. Hermione suddenly realized she did not even know what color her room was, and took a quick look at the rest of the room.

Light blue paint covered the walls, and a warm silver throw rug had been laid on the dark stained hardwood floors. Turning around, she noticed a desk, made out of the same wood as both the chest and the floor, complete with quills, parchment and ink sitting next to two doors, with bookshelves in between. Opening the doors, she noticed one led to a closet, another to a bathroom that she obviously shared with Luna. Remembering her friend, she turned to her; she was still standing in the doorway, and noticed another door next to the one that led to the landing by the common room.

Walking to it, she opened it to find an art studio. When she had been recovering at Grimmuald Place, Hermione had taken up art, finding it a great way to make her feelings clear. At the sight of her old paints, and previous works, she felt relieved; at least she would have her old hobby still with her.

Once again turning to Luna, she noticed that all three of the other Heads were in her room, Blaise was checking out the balcony, Luna had crept up behind her and was looking at the art studio, and Draco was sitting lazily on the bed watching her. Holding back a flinch, she realized that Blaise was saying something to her. Unable to understand him, she turned to Luna for help.

She translated, **"No fair! You get a balcony! All I get is a stupid sofa!"**

Hermione smiled, and signed to Luna, **"That's because I'm just so much better than you."**

Luna burst out laughing and had to tell Blaise what Hermione had said through bursts of laughter. The look on Blaise's face after he had gotten what she had said though was priceless. Hermione smiled as she watched Blaise storm out of the room with an unnecessary dramatic flair. Draco soon followed his friend, after sending a questioning glance at Hermione.

After everyone, including Luna, had left, Hermione collapsed on her bed for a well-deserved nap.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Draco retreated from Hermione's room even more puzzled than he had been originally. Something was definitely wrong with one of the Head Girls. Walking into his own room, which was decorated in greens and silvers, Slytherin house colors of course, he sat down at his desk, head in his hands puzzling over Hermione.

Making a list in his head of all that he had observed, he noted,

She flinched at odd moments. _(Flashback to time on train, or the time in the Great Hall, or even just now in her room, she had hidden a flinch.)_

She never let the back of her neck show. _(This one did not seem to fit with the rest of his observations, but he had the sense that it was important.)_

She always seemed to need those weird hand movements to listen to others. _(Flashback to Harry in the Great Hall, Dumbledore, even Luna on the Hogwarts Express!)_

Her eyes were always darting about the room, as if waiting for something to jump out at her. _(No comment on this one.)_

She never spoke, laughed, or normally made a sound. _(The only noise he had heard her make was a gasp when she saw her room. Odd, especially for the normally __**extremely**__ vocal bookworm.)_

Looking over his mental notes, he realized that he was stumped on the puzzle that was Hermione. It had always been a habit of his to solve other people's puzzles. And Hermione was a puzzle he was determined to solve.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Just ignore the italics if you want to. They just add specifics about Hermione's schedule, which is not really needed, but I did because I was bored and did not feel like writing more than I happened to have at that point. Enjoy!

I am soooo, soooo, sorry for not updating. School just started and I had like four projects in the first two weeks, darn sophomore year! Anyway, I hope you all forgive me!

Chapter 6—

The first few weeks of classes were disastrous for Hermione. Teachers kept calling her out, expecting her to know the answer to questions she could not hear them ask. Eventually, after she did not answer numerous questions, they stopped looking to her for an immediate response. Soon the whole school was filled with rumors about her; everyone wanted to know what was wrong with the Senior Head Girl.

Draco was no different; he had memorized her schedule after the first week of school. Luckily, for him, she stuck to it like clockwork, allowing him to 'observe' her. Her schedule was as follows:

8:30— Wake up. Take shower. Get dressed. Wake up Luna, Blaise, and Draco (only knocking on the boys' doors of course)

9:00- Go sit downstairs with book until Luna appears.

9:30—Luna appears. Go to Great Hall together. Go sit with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Make small talk. Reprimand Harry and Ron for not doing homework. Gossip with Ginny. Most likely let Ron and Harry copy her completed homework.

10:00—Go to Transfiguration with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. _(This class changed depending on the day, she had a free period on Tuesday, which she spent in the library, on Wednesdays, Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Transfiguration on Wednesdays and Mondays.)_

11:30—Go to Arithmancy by herself. Sit next to partner: Malfoy. (_The group had Charms on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Arithmancy for her was on Monday, with Ancient Runes on Wednesday. She had another free period on Friday.) _

1:00—Meet Harry, Ron, and Ginny outside classroom (_they had a free period_). Go to lunch with said friends.

2:00—Go with Harry and Ron to Double Potions with Slytherins. Get stuck with Malfoy as partner for rest of year. _(This too changed during the week. The Beginnings of Healing was on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.)_

2:01—Begin ignoring Malfoy.

2:02—Begin ignoring Malfoy's notes.

2:03—Start wishing for class to end.

5:00—Class ends. Praise whatever divine being(s) there is/are for this miracle. Leave in a hurry for Head Common Room.

5:10—Malfoy catches up. Continues to aggravate on way to said Common Room.

5:25(ish)—Reach Head Common Room. Retreat with Luna up into Hermione's room. Gossip.

5:45-6:00(ish)—Follow Luna down to fix dinner in kitchen. Blaise and Draco come down to eat with the girls. Begin small talk, one of the paintings on the walls of the dorm being translator as Luna was unable to both eat and sign.

7:00—Clean kitchen. Retreat into art studio. Begin painting/drawing.

8:00—Stop painting/drawing unless on interesting project (then she would stay up until it was done). Pick out good book either from own bookshelves or one she had taken from the library or a textbook to study. Begin reading.

10:00-10:30—Put book down. Get ready for bed. Go to bed.

While he was following Hermione around, the list of oddities about her just grew longer. He had now added,

She exchanges those hand motions with certain portraits on the walls. (_Everyday she would talk to one of Godric Gryffindor outside the Transfiguration classroom. He had also seen Potter talking to one about her where a bouts in the castle a few times, the Weaselette even more often. Surprisingly, he had seen Weasley asking about her the most.)_

She seemed to be falling behind on her studies. She did not take notes during class anymore. _(Odd especially for the bookworm.) _And in most classes they shared, he was now first! _(Of course, he had only been second by a little bit, but now the roles were reversed. __She__ was behind __him.__)_

This was the reason he could be found staring out the window, a forgotten textbook laying across his lap. The clock in the clock tower struck 1:45, jerking him out of his reverie.

He sat there for a moment, listening to the melody that the tower emitted. Suddenly, his conscious mind took over, realizing the time, he bolted out of the common room. He was going to be late for potions.

Normally he would have taken his time getting to the dungeons, as he was a favorite of Slughorn and the late Snape, but the school had recently gotten a new potions teacher, as one of Longbottom's potions had sent Professor Slughorn into an early retirement, as well as a room in St. Mungo's. Because of this fact, Draco could be seen racing through the halls down to the dungeon.

He entered just before the class was supposed to start.

"Ahh, Mr. Malfoy, you arrived just in time. I was just assigning partners for the year-long project we are going to be doing."

Draco just nodded no need to get on her bad side this early. He slid the seat next to Blaise at the back of the room.

"Very well then, now that we are all here, I can continue with the partnering. Now this project will consist of a written essay, written by the both of you together. You will also be required to duplicate the potion in class. You are not able to pick your partners," she stopped and glared at the students who groaned, "but will be able to choose the topic."

She strode behind her desk and flipped through a large book sitting on it. "Ahh, here we are. The partners are as follows: Potter and Zambini, Weasley and Parkinson, Weasley and Bulstrode, Thomas and Nott, Longbottom and Goyle, Granger and Malfoy…" she continued calling names, but the rest did not matter to Draco, he was going to be working with Granger for a whole year. Of course, he wanted to figure out what was wrong with her, but he did not necessarily want to spend a whole year with her. Then again, he reminded himself, he already was, they were sharing common rooms after all.

Shaking his head, he realized that the professor had stopped talking, breaking the silence, he said, "Professor…" he trailed off realizing that he did not know the Professors' name.

"Middlebourne." She supplied.

"Yes, Professor Middlebourne, um, the Senior Head Girl and I do not work very well together and…," Blaise snorted, that was the understatement of the year. Draco glared at him, giving him an elbow in the ribs. "…and I was wondering, is there any way we could change partners with another group."

"I am sorry Mr. Malfoy, but the partnering is final, it cannot be changed. Maybe with will be a good time for you to sort out your differences between you two."

"Of course Professor." _Great, _Draco thought,_ not only did he have a yearlong project to do with Granger; he had a therapist for a teacher as well._

A silence followed his compliance; the whole class had been hoping that there was a possibility that they could change their partners. Realizing that this was now not an available option, the whole class broke out into objections, most yelling out each other's' flaws.

"QUIET!" Professor Middlebourne was livid, "all of the partners are final! This behavior is atrocious; I would expect this out of five year olds, not seventh years, especially in an advanced class! As punishment, all of you will have to make today's potion with your partner. And no exceptions!"

Muffled grumbles filled the classroom, but not one raised his or her voice, not wanting to prod the Professor any further. Slowly all of the class obliged, moving to sit with their assigned partners.

Harry stood and walked over to where Blaise and Draco were sitting near the back of the classroom; giving Draco a stern look that was obviously trying to intimidate him into getting up. Draco almost laughed at the thought, Potter being intimidating, maybe to a first year.

"I'm going Potter, is there anything you would like me to tell your girlfriend when I go over there?" He asked mockingly.

Harry glared at him again, but otherwise ignored him. Draco smirked at him and went over to where Hermione was sitting. As he sat down, he gave a smirk over to the table on his left, where Longbottom was trying to ignore Goyle, who was hulking over him. Seeing him looking over, Goyle gave a particularly menacing look at Neville. Draco almost had to laugh at Goyle's surprised expression when Neville gave an equally menacing glare back. The wimp had braved up after the war after all. He turned back to the Professor to see what potion they were making today.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione had not been able to hear anything that the teacher had said, and was just following Harry's lead, they had decided beforehand that the two of them would be partners, but from the looks of it that wasn't going to be possible anymore. She watched the rest of the class change their seats around, from the activity she gathered that the new Professor had assigned partners, and odd ones at that. She wondered who she was stuck with. Sending a quick glance around the room to see who was coming her way, someone from Slytherin sitting down next to her blocked her view. _Please don't let it be Malfoy. Not Malfoy. Not Malfoy._ She looked up to see Draco sending a condescending glance down at her. _Great, it's Malfoy._

Seeing Ron and Pansy at the table to her right she began to watch them. Currently Ron and Pansy were having a glaring match over the cauldron on the desk. She watched as Ron started to turn red about the ears from anger, this would not end well for someone. Spinning her ring around, she watched as he spun around to face her. Shooting a chastising glare at him, she silently warned him to behave. The teacher's clapping brought her attention back to the front of the class.

"Now that we have all settled down, we will be making a bonding potion today. Can anyone tell me what this potion is most commonly used for?"

Draco looked to his partner expecting to almost have his nose cut off by Hermione's hand being raised in a dash, instead he was greeted with a casual indifference from her, as if she had not heard the question at all; odd.

Eventually Ginny raised her hand and gave the correct answer. "The bonding potion is normally used to bind wounds together. It is also one of the key ingredients in bone mending potions, such as Skele-Grow."

Professor Middlebourne nodded her head, "Correct, ten points to Gryffindor. Now we will be making this potion in class today, as Madame Pomphrey has requested some more. The instructions are on page 170 in your textbook."

Hermione kept a blank face through the instructions, but was secretly watching Draco to see what page he turned to. Catching the number off the corner of his page, she quickly skipped there herself. Taking note of the necessary ingredients, she headed to the small storage cupboard behind the teachers' desk. Grabbing powdered unicorn hooves, Boomslang skin, and three Gillywigg roots she headed back to the table where Draco had already started the fire underneath the cauldron.

She set the supplies down and they both began to work on the potion in silence. They had just finished when two loud 'BOOM's filled the small room.

The last thing she remembered was Ron's horrified face.

If you are confused on how the room is set up, it rather matters so here is the best diagram I could put in here: Tables are other partners; I just did not want to put too much work into this to figure them all out. The bold are the important ones.

(Cupboard)

Professor Middlebourne

Table Table Table Table

Table **Neville + Goyle Draco + Hermione Ron + Pansy**

Ginny + Bulstrode Table Dean + Nott Table

Table Harry + Blaise Table Table


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7—

I am soooo sorry! I forgot to thank all my reviewers last chapter! Ahhh! Not good! Hopefully you forgive me. Here they are for both chapters: (ps. It's my numbering, add another chapter for the actual one fanfic gives, stupid prologue.)

Chapter 5: sammarylovesmalfoy, Annabelle-Paisley Nott, sh0rt3zMalfoy, RainbowRepublic, Misses Prongs, xXSlytherinxXxLuvxX, and verypen.

Chapter 6: KaAaArl, pirateKitten11893, Just Your Above Average Malfoy, and Misses Prongs.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly, her head aching horribly. Pulling herself into a sitting position, she blinked rapidly, squinting against the bright white colored infirmary.

The infirmary? When did she get there? Suddenly she remembered the events of the last potions class; she groaned quietly, but obviously not quietly, enough as she was suddenly bombarded by a flurry of red colored hair as Ginny launched herself at her. Hermione sat there; awkwardly patting Ginny's back all the while sending confused glances at Harry who was standing slightly behind the hospital bed.

"**You've been out for two days. Malfoy and you were knocked unconscious by the explosions from Neville's and Ron's cauldrons, as well as your own."**

"**That explains a lot then." **Hermione replied, gesturing to the sobbing Ginny. Harry smiled and chuckled softly, then paled when Ginny turned on him yelling, her face covered in red blotches. Finally, she turned back to Hermione.

"**Oh, we're so glad you're up. Ron has been feeling **_**really**_** guilty about what happened. We keep telling him it was not his fault, but he won't listen to us."**

"**Speaking of Ron, where is he anyways?" **Hermione inquired.

"**He's moping outside. He'll be here any minute now that you're awake through. I'll go tell him you're up."**

Hermione frowned. **"I still can't remember exactly. What happened?" **she directed the question to Harry, as Ginny had just run out of the dividing curtain.

"**We're not exactly sure either. Somehow, both of Ron and Neville's potions exploded at roughly the same time. You and Malfoy were caught in the middle. Then, when one of you was falling, you knocked your own completed Bonding Potion onto yourselves. Madame Pomphrey says that you're lucky the two of you were not attached at the hip. And not in the figurative sense."**

Hermione grimaced with the thought of forever being bound to Malfoy. No matter what they had all gone through together in the war, that was almost too horrible to even consider.

"**Anyways," **Harry started again,** "Madame Pomphrey had no idea what to do; she had never seen something like this before. Supposedly, Ron and Pansy accidentally made a potion used commonly in Occlumency training sessions to access the mind."**

"**Corpreonus Potion." **Hermione supplied.

"**Yeah, that. Anyway, Neville and Goyle accidentally made a primitive form of the same potion, but no one knows how far they completed it, so it could have varying side effects." **Harry shook his head and sighed deeply. **"Madame Pomphrey said to just let you sleep it off, but she isn't sure if you'll have any major side effects. Speaking of her, she probably wants to check on you now that you're awake."**

By that time, Ginny had entered, saying Ron needed to finish a few things but would be back soon. By the look on her face, Hermione guessed it was around lunch. Harry and Ginny shared a sheepish look at the mention of Madame Pomphrey.

"**What did you two do?" **Hermione asked warily, almost afraid of what she was going to hear.

Ginny eventually worked up the courage to tell her. **"Because of your condition, we kind of had to tell her about you being deaf."** She shot a guilty expression at Hermione.

"**You WHAT?"**

"**Yeah, anyway, I should probably go help Ron hurry up with whatever he's doing…" **Harry trailed off, slowly backing toward the divider that separated the hospital bed from the rest of the room.

"**HARRY JAMES POTTER! Get back here right now!"**

Harry took one look at Hermione's livid face, and rushed out of the area, his face paling with every step.

Hermione shook her head at him, and then focused on Ginny who gave a nervous laugh.

"**You know, I should go and help Harry with Ron."** And she too rushed out of the divider.

Hermione sighed, leaning back against the pillows, shaking her head slightly at their antics. You'd think she was Voldermort raised from the dead, the way they acted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Soon enough though, both Ron and Madame Pomphrey burst through the divison. Ron immediately lauched himself at her, begging her for forgiveness.

"**Mr. Weasley, give the poor dear some rest. She's been through enough already!" **Madame Pomphrey both said and signed it.

Ron immediately backed off, looking slightly red about the ears. Hermione ignored him, instead looking with confusion at Madame Pomphrey.

"**Oh, come on dear. Did you really think I wouldn't know sign language?" **she looked incredulously at Hermione, who blushed in response.

"**Madame Pomphrey,"** Hermione started,

"**Yes, dear?"**

"**Would you not tell anyone about my disability? I don't want anyone else to know."** The nurse looked at her in surprise.

"**Hermione, there's no need to be ashamed of your disability. It's not what you have or don't have that defines you, but what you do. Don't worry about what other people will think." **The nurse gave a kind and motherly look that could rival even Mrs. Weasley towards her new favorite student. Hermione still looked down ashamed, but the color from her cheeks was fading little by little. Eventually she looked up at the medi-witch.

"**Even so, would you not tell anyone? It's not that I'm ashamed, I just don't want to be treated differently than anybody else."**

Madame Pomphrey laughed. **"Dear, you're Hermione Granger of the Golden Trio, best friend to Harry Potter, of course people are going to treat you differently, even if they don't know about your disability."**

Hermione smiled at the blatent truth in the statement. And this time, the smile almost reached her eyes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Draco slowly raised himself off the infirmary bed, a headache pounding behind his temples. What had happened? Suddenly a loud screeching noise filled his ears, only adding to his headache.

"Dracey-poo! Are you okay? Longbottom and Weasley blew up the cauldrons, Gryffindors can never do anything right. If my Dracey-poo is hurt…"

"Pansy, shut up. You're hurting my head." The witch turned to send a disbelieving glance at him. He sighed, women. "Pansy, I'll come talk to you later, but right now talking hurts my head. Go, do something else."

Pansy huffed, but obliged, sending a very sloppy kiss after her. Draco sighed and turned to where Blaise had been watching, barely containing laughter.

"What?" Blaise just continued laughing while Draco watched his level of annoyance increasing with each second. Finally, Blaise stopped and relayed the previous day's events to him, as well as Madame Pomphrey's diagnosis. (I didn't feel like typing it twice)

"Great, so I narrowly avoided being attached to the Mudblood my whole life, and now may have other unnoticed repercussions." Sarcasm dripped off the statement.

Blaise nodded, "That seems about it."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8—

**Side-effects** hehehe, is it wrong I'm so evil…probably not. I know how many of you have responded saying how you love the Blaise/Luna pairing, I personally do too, or else it would not be in this story. But as this is one of my only stories that I am really going through with, I'm focusing on the Dramione part. I'll probably go back and enhance their paring later but for now…don't get your hopes up.

Thanks to loyal reviewers:

PinkMusicalCherry, sh0rt3zMalfoy, Just Your Above Average Malfoy, Misses Prongs, karina 349 and DaniMalfoy796. Love you all!

Questions:

DaniMalfoy796: Of course! Just not for the next, many, few chapters (this one explains a lot).

Enjoy!

Once both Draco and Hermione had woken, ate, and reassured the medi-witch one too many times that they were alright, they were allowed to leave. By that time, it was early morning of the next day, and it was just in time for them to have breakfast with friends. They both headed off in the direction of the Great Hall, each somewhat successfully ignoring each other's presence. After reaching the great oak doors, they separated to their house tables, neither noticing how almost every step they took was synchronized.

0o0o0o0o

Hermione sat down next to Ginny, a slight smile gracing her face, she was glad to be back. Her three friends wrapped her into their world of silent conversation, and everything was almost back to normal.

0o0o0o0o

Draco slid into the seat next to Blaise, trying to ignore Pansy's pleas and whines when he didn't sit next to her. He too, was soon pulled into the conversation his allies and few friends were involved in. But something was just a tad off.

0o0o0o0o0o

Hermione was sitting, listening to what Ginny was saying, via Harry, when she noticed something different. She could faintly hear a mumbling sound. The thought echoed around in her silent mind for a moment.

_**She could hear!**_

Hermione could almost feel the smile spread across her face. Harry, then Ginny and Ron looked at her oddly, but at the moment she didn't care, _she could hear!_

She watched as Ginny turned to ask Harry something, most likely what he'd done to make her act like this. Hermione focused her mind onto the mumbling again. With her full concentration, it started to turn into words, and they weren't the ones that should have been coming from Ginny's mouth.

"I'm just glad my Drakey-poo is okay again." Hermione looked up, staring at the Slytherin table where Pansy Parkinson was talking to Malfoy and Blaise Zambini. She could have laughed at the look on Malfoy's face as Pansy latched herself onto his arm, but was unable to as a wave of disgust and contempt swept through her mind.

And it was all directed at Pansy.

0o0o0o0o0o

Draco's eyes widened as a jet of fear, then realization, and then horror flew through his mind. But the emotions weren't his own. Subconsciously, he slammed his mental protective walls into place around him, trying to head off the intruder. He discreetly glanced around the Great Hall, expecting the intruder to be looking at him. Instead, he looked up just in time to see Hermione bolt out of the Great Hall, causing any eyes that may have been looking at him to jump to stare after her. He shook his head and went back to eating and avoiding Pansy.

After the meal was over, Dumbledore floated to the podium by the teacher's table. "If the Head Students, senior and junior, would stay after the meal, I have something I must discuss with you. If Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Weasley would stay as well; I believe this includes you also."

Students slowly made their way out into the rest of the castle; shooting odd looks at the students left. Harry, Ron and Ginny had already realized that it must have something to Hermione, and were sharing worried glances with each other. Draco glanced at the other remaining heads, and was unperturbed to see that Blaise and Luna were standing by the Headmasters' ghost, their hands wrapped in each others'.

Draco was the last to join the group by the podium. Once he had arrived, the Headmaster quickly sped off, heading towards his office. Saying the password, "gumdrops", Dumbledore motioned to the spiral stairs topped with a magnificent sculpture of an owl, its' wings spread welcomingly. The group walked nervously onto the stairs, watching as Dumbledore floated through the ceiling to precede their arrival in his office.

Draco was unsurprised to find that Hermione was already waiting for them, seated comfortably in one of the numerous chairs facing the large desk in the center of the oval room. Taking his seat across from the desk, Hermione and the rest of the Golden Trio plus one was on his left, Blaise and Luna, still holding hands were on his right. Dumbledore floated up from the floor, coming to rest just behind his desk. Settling down and folding his hands so that his index fingers created a steeple to rest his transparent chin upon, Dumbledore looked curiously at all of them.

Slowly he began to speak:

"**Now, I know you are all wondering why I have called you all here, and all of your questions will be answered momentarily. Beforehand, however, I must bring the few of you who do not understand the circumstances up to speed. "**

He paused, looking at all of them directly in the eyes. Was it just him or did Dumbledore seem to spend longer staring at Draco, as if trying to look into his soul?

"**Miss Granger here is deaf."**

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Luna turned to look at Hermione, wondering how she would take the fact that her secret was being shared with Malfoy and Zambini, the one their arch-nemesis, the other simply a Slytherin. Hermione showed no signs of shock or betrayal. Draco and Blaise looked at Hermione as well, their faces showing their disbelief. Draco's mind quickly processed the information, and connected it to the previous odd things he had noticed about the Senior Head Girl. The puzzle seemed to be slowly coming together.

Blaise looked dumbfounded, shocked, a little bit more than surprised. He immediately stumbled into apologies for not knowing, treating her harshly, and those other insignificant things that seem to be so important when you discover such a life-altering fact. Luna patiently translated for Hermione behind his back.

Hermione smiled another half-smile and signed back **"Luna, tell him it's fine, I've started to learn how to deal with it. He shouldn't worry about it."**

Luna quoted her back to Blaise, whose face showed relief.

Harry, not surprised by the statement, turned to the Headmaster, "**What did you bring us all here for Professor?"**

All of the students turned to face the Professor immediately. Dumbledore sighed, "**Well, I believe I have some bad news, at least from one point of view, to tell all of you. For you see,-"**

"**Professor, I don't mean to be rude, but I believe all of us know of the potions incident."** Hermione cut in.

"**Yes, of course. Well, I will just get to the point then. It seems Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger's minds are connected. Now I am not sure just how close at this point but—"**

"WHAT?" Draco roared, standing to his feet. Unknowingly, he had also roared the word through the mental contact between him and Hermione. Surprised by the loud sound in her normally silent world, she fell out of her chair; causing a loud crash to echo in the circular room.

Harry and Ron jumped to their feet and headed towards Hermione helping her back into her seat. Dumbledore had watched the whole thing without so much as a batted eyelid, and chuckled when Hermione sent a death glare in Draco's direction.

Draco rolled his eyes, not caring if Hermione's eyeballs popped out at the moment, and regretted it moments later when a sharp jab to his mental walls echoed through his head. He turned to glare at Hermione who raised an eyebrow at him in mockery.

Dumbledore, not wanting a duel to start in his office, quickly turned the focus back onto himself. "**As I was saying,"**__he paused making sure everyone was listening,** "the two of you are mentally connected, we don't know how closely, but Madame Pomphrey expects it to expand over time. It seems that you two are stuck with each other."**

"**Now, due to Miss Granger's disability,"** he ignored the glare Hermione sent him, **I ask that the two of you try to open your minds so that Miss Granger may 'listen in' on her surroundings through Mr. Malfoy."**

"No. I am not doing that, sir."Draco flatly stated, "I am not going to be some hearing aid for Granger."

"_Wow, Malfoy, you must have really been studying hard in Muggle studies, I'm impressed." _Hermione's sarcastic voice sounded through his mind.

Draco whipped around to glare at her. She smirked back. "_Stay out of my head you creep."_

Dumbledore watched the whole proceedings with interest. _"I must warn the teachers, this could become hazardous."_


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9—

I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry for not updating. My brother shattered my computer screen, and I had to wait to get another one because all of my files were on the one that shattered, and even then I lost some of my files (luckily I got them back). I hope you all will forgive me. I also just hit fifty reviews! Most ever on one of my stories…that sounds so sad. Whatever, I'm still excited!

Sorry about this being a short chapter but I hit one of those horrible writer's block things…I can't even remember the name of it….but I felt bad about not updating, I hadn't realized that it was so long between updates! The next one, I promise, will be longer!

Oh! If any of you are interested, I am looking for a beta for this story. First time using beta's so it would help if you're a little experienced with the process.

Thanks to DaniMalfoy, sharu, Just Your Above Average Malfoy, Twilighternproud, PinkMusicalCherry, and verypen for reviewing. Love you guys!

If, after reading this any of you have an idea that might make for a good, small, 'problem scene' (I have the big climax one of course, but you can always make a story better!) just click the little blue button below and REVIEW!

Hermione slept in unusually late the next morning, waking after all of the other Heads. After she had showered and generally gotten ready, she walked downstairs to find all three of the other Heads eating breakfast without her. Seeing Malfoy, she reached out her mind, trying to make sure that yesterday had not all been an extremely strange dream. Sensing her, Malfoy quickly 'slapped' her mentally and closed up his wards as well as he could. (The bond between their minds made it impossible to completely close each other off.)

There went that hope.

Sitting down with a sigh, Hermione began adding food to her plate and started a conversation with Luna about the Transfiguration paper McGonagall had assigned to all of the seventh years. The conversation was interrupted by a large, brown barn owl flying in through one of the open windows in one of the boys' rooms. The owl fluttered down quite gracefully, and landed in the middle of the table. It looked at them all for a minute before stretching its leg, and the accompanied letter to Hermione.

Taking the letter, Hermione recognized the Headmasters' curly calligraphy and opened it immediately. After a brief scanning, she handed the letter to Draco who cautiously took it.

_Dear Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy, _

_Because of the current events, I have spoken with each of your teachers, and have merged your schedules together. (This was followed by the revised schedule)_

_As you both have chosen different courses of interest, it has been decided that Mr. Malfoy will accompany Miss Granger to her 'Beginnings of Healing' class and Miss Granger will have free periods during Mr. Malfoy's 'Finance and Business' class. _

_Headmaster Dumbledore_

"This is outrageous!" Draco roared, standing up, his fist clenched tightly around the letter, crinkling the paper into a tight wad.

"_Oh, come on, Malfoy, it isn't that bad."_ Hermione said rolling her eyes at him as she continued to eat her breakfast.

"Draco, mate, sit down and give me the letter before you crush it to the point where it's unreadable." Blaise said, trying to calm the blonde-haired man down.

"Not that bad?" Draco looked incredulously at Hermione, ignoring Blaise but allowing the letter to be pulled from his grasp. "I am going to be stuck with you in all of your classes for the rest of the year so you can use me as a bloody hearing aid! It's not _that_ bad, it's _worse_!"

Hermione looked at him stoically for a few seconds, then. _"Mind repeating that so I could hear it?"_

Draco threw his hands up and stormed out of the common room, slamming the portrait behind him. The three could hear Audrey protesting loudly outside.

"Well, that went well." Luna said, locking her absent gaze on the still vibrating portrait.

Hermione looked incredulously at her friend, then burst out in hysterical laughter.

Blaise looked at the girls for a moment then sighed heavily, and left in search of his best friend.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Blaise eventually found Draco sitting alone in the Astronomy Tower. Realizing it was a rare semi-spilling-of-the-guts-but-not-in-a-mushy-way moment between Slytherins he sat down next to him without a word, silently prompting Draco to speak.

"Blaise, what am I going to do?" Draco sounded exasperated and leaned his head back until it hit the wall behind him with his eyes closed.

"You're going to go down there, apologize for storming out on us, and then agree to help Hermione."

Draco opened one eye and looked at his best friend. "And how much do you think I'm going to do of that?"

Blaise chuckled, "None."

Draco nodded his head, the beginning of a smile on his face. Blaise elbowed him in the shoulder, "Oh, come on, being in Hermione's head couldn't be that bad. At least you'll have an easy route for cheating. Not that you'll ever need it you intelligent bastard." He muttered the last bit, but it was still loud enough to be heard.

"You're really bad a pep-talks you know." Draco smirked over at his friend.

"Nah, just when I'm giving them to you."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Yeah, then next time the Slytherin Quiddich team has a game against Gryffindor I'll let you give the before-game pep talk."

Blaise blanched, "That would not be a good idea."

Draco laughed and stood up, walking to the door. Standing in the doorway, he turned, "You coming?"

Blaise stretched out his hand, "Give a brother a lift?"

Draco evaluated him for a moment, then smirked, "Nah." and walked out the door, Blaise scrambling to catch up.

"Get back here you sick bastard!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

While the boys were having their talk, Luna and Hermione were discussing some of the exact, same issues in the common room. Having cleaned up breakfast, the two were sitting on Hermione's bed talking about nothing and everything at the same time.

"**Did Dumbledore really change both of your schedules because of your connection?" **Luna asked, **"I wasn't able to read the letter before Blaise took it."**

"**Yeah, I'm not exactly what to think on that subject actually."**

"**Yes, I thought there were a lot of Wrackspurts around. Is your brain fuzzy? Because they go in your ears and make your brain, go all fuzzy. It really inhibits thinking very hard."**

"**No, Luna, I don't think it's Wrackspurts. It is more like I have no idea how to deal with this! What would you do?"**

Luna tilted her head to the side thinking then signed, **"I think I would work with him, he's quite cute."**

"**Luna!" **Hermione gasped, **"I thought you were dating Blaise!" **

"**It doesn't mean I can't look."**

This time, Hermione's smile reached her eyes.


	11. Chapter 10

Hello everyone, unfortunately this is not a new chapter. I know, I wish it was too. Recently my Dramione muse has disappeared, and this story has been shoved to the back of the shelf. I apologize for the really long wait only to get this, I hate these things too. I am now putting this story officially on hiatus. However, I am opening it up to any fanfiction writer who wants to continue it. Have at it-just give me credit for at least the first nine chapters. If you do want to continue this story on your own, PM me, I'll do my best to get back to you. Just don't expect it soon. Again, sorry for getting your hopes up.

Forgive me?

Pheonixfeather05


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